


There are Rules

by MrProphet



Category: Indiana Jones Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 16:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10701159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	There are Rules

It was clear from the echo that the chamber was huge, and the beams of the torches did little more than cast sinister shadows on the distant walls and dimly illuminate the three men – one older, two young – who stood in the narrow doorway.

“Wow,” one of the younger men breathed. He took a step forward, but the older man put out a hand to stop him.

“Wait,” he said softly. “There are rules for this sort of thing.” He lifted his head and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

His colleagues sniffed.

“Gas,” the third man said. Unlike his companions, his accent was not wholly American, but British with a twang.

The older man took a feather from his tweed hat and held it out into the room. When he released it the feather drifted slowly to the floor. “No draft,” he noted. “If there was a steady flow of gas, the room would be full of it, but…” He turned and shone his torch on the walls beside the door. He soon found what he was looking for and pressed a stone panel.

There was a soft hiss, and then a line of high, blue flames leaped from the high walls of the chamber, casting a soft light across the room. By that light, the three men could see that the chamber was at least the size of a football pitch, with its vaulted ceiling supported by a forest of sturdy columns.

The walls were patterned with pictographic texts and scenes of palace life. A long avenue led between the columns to a high altar, on which sat a great, black, stone casket.

Slowly, the three men made their way along the avenue towards the altar. As they approached, the casket seemed to grow lighter.

Then it began to glow.

“Close your eyes!” the older man snapped. “Don’t look at the light! Get back to the door.”

The younger men obeyed at once, and they backed out of the chamber. The older man pressed the stone again and first the gas flames, then the glow went out.

“What was that, Professor Ravenwood?” the Englishman asked.

“I don’t know, Oxley,” Ravenwood admitted.

“Then why back away?” the American student asked.

Ravenwood shrugged. “It’s good archaeological practice not to look at or approach anything that glows,” he said. “Like I said, Jones; there are rules.”


End file.
